Hear IKEBANA’s Beautifully Blooming ‘Rose’

Japanese duo constructs minimal shoegaze music

IKEBANA are Maki and En, a pair of Japanese musicians who apply the minimalist tendencies of their floral namesake to their drone-influenced sound. While the specter of shoegaze looms over their atmospheric works, the duo take a far subtler approach that’s still steeped in dynamism. Take “Rose,” for example. The song begins with ominous electronic buzz, drifts into peaceful strum accompanied by springy reverbed vocals, and unfurls into a sun-dappled vista all within the span of roughly five-and-a-half minutes.

The careful line that IKEBANA walks is somewhat explained by the members’ respective backgrounds. En used to play in the dense and fuzz-loving Incence, while Maki is a tape experimentalist who abstains from using all digital equipment and the Internet (!) altogether. They’ll share their new LP when you arrive there on July 8 via Flau and a handful of remixes are in the works by folks as diverse as Yo La Tengo’s James McNew, Shibuya band Buffalo Daughter and Flying Lotus affiliate Matthewdavid.

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